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The Harper Conservatives are facing an intriguing political challenge — how to demonize an official Opposition that is devoid of a sordid past.

While New Democrats have formed a few governments provincially, they’ve never ruled the roost in Ottawa.

And so, for Conservatives, the question becomes how to go about criticizing the past sexual exploits of “a virgin.”

Unlike the Liberals, New Democrats in Ottawa never have had an opportunity to award big advertising contracts to their friends. No New Democrat has ever received an envelope full of cash at an Italian restaurant in east-end Montreal.

The New Democrats have never been in a position to dole out patronage. And they’ve rarely been on the receiving end of it.

Certainly, no prime minister has ever appointed a New Democrat to the Senate, which allows the party to advocate the chamber’s abolition from a disinterested pedestal.

When Lillian Dyck, a Saskatchewan senator, appointed by Liberal PM Paul Martin in 2005, wished to sit as a New Democrat, the NDP refused to admit her to their caucus.

New Democrats thus have never felt entitled to their entitlements — a colossal advantage at a time when Harper ministers are being outed for scandalous spending and poor ethical judgment.

During the daily question period when the Liberals were the main opposition party, the Conservatives always deflected mudpies by recalling the unethical antics of past Liberal governments.

But it’s more challenging now to toss grenades to the other side, as evidenced by Stephen Harper’s awkward reference last week to pacifist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation leader J.S. Woodsworth’s opposition to Canadians fighting the Nazis.

The attack, in response to NDP questioning of Canada’s continued military involvement in Afghanistan, was a stretch and fell flat.

First, Woodsworth was voicing a minority viewpoint within his party. Second, the CCF was only a precursor party to the NDP, which wasn’t established until 1961, years after the Second World War.

Similarly, when it comes to negative advertising, Conservatives won’t be able to target NDP leader Tom Mulcair’s governing record, as they did recently with interim Liberal leader Bob Rae.

Mulcair has never been a premier or prime minister. (He was Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks for four years in the Charest government before joining the federal NDP in 2007).

Mulcair, these days, appears to be working strategically to project a positive, dignified image for himself and his party. At a Wednesday caucus meeting open to reporters, marking the first anniversary of the party’s official Opposition status, he said: “We are a serious, structured, strong opposition.”

Pursuing that business-like image, Mulcair appeared in a recently released round of NDP television ads clad in a suit and tie, delivering his message from a boardroom.

And the NDP — which through the winter and spring ran a studiously dirt-free leadership campaign — earlier this week called on the Commons Speaker to crack down on House of Commons “bullying.”

House leader Nathan Cullen told reporters he had “a clear mandate from my leader” to call for more decorum and respect during the daily question period.

New Democrats are betting that their clean slate and professional behaviour will impress voters, especially when measured against an attack-dog Conservative crew that, in the past six years, has accumulated its own share of political skeletons.

In less than a week, Abbotsford recording artists Hedley went from touring Canada with two supporting acts and a popular new album to pariahs ensnared in allegations of sexual misconduct. On Monday, accusations that band members Jacob Hoggard, Dave Rosin, Tommy Mac and Jay Benison had engaged in sexual behaviour with teenage girls surfaced on Twitter […]

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